Past Events

Join us for a special International Peace Day webinar, live from Montgomery, Alabama, in partnership with the Parents Circle–Families Forum, on September 21st, 4 PM EDT.

From September 14 to 21, a group of Americans and bereaved Israelis and Palestinians from the Parents Circle will travel from New Orleans, to Jackson, to Selma, and to Montgomery on one of our ReStory US trips to the US South. The group will discover lessons of reconciliation in common to Israel, Palestine, and across American racial lines. Join us on September 21st to hear first hand from our bereaved Palestinian and Israeli members and people we met along the way about their experiences.

Many of you have met with members of the Parents Circle during your trips to Israel/Palestine. We’re so excited to be inviting them into our nation’s story, and hope you will join us for this special event.

White evangelical communities make up as much as 25% of US voters, and voted in overwhelming numbers for Trump in 2020. For many observers, the unabashed support for Trump seemed to contradict what they knew of evangelicals and their values. Dr. Marcia Pally attempts to provide an explanation for this conundrum in her new book, White Evangelicals and Right-Wing Populism: How Did We Get Here by reviewing the historical, political, and theological beliefs, as well as the present-day circumstances, of white evangelicals to help us better understand this influential and essential community.

Please join us for a special online discussion with Dr. Pally, Dr. Samuel Perry, author of Taking America Back for God and the recently released, The Flag and the Cross, and Telos COO Dave Davis, on the occasion of the book’s release as they help us see past moral recriminations into the deeper values that animate white evangelical communities in the US. They will also discuss where some white evangelical communities are charting a different way out of populism and into a life of peacemaking, and offer insight into the places where collaboration and partnership is possible across lines of difference.

Panelists:

Prof. Marcia Pally teaches at New York University and held the Mercator Guest Professorship in the Theology Faculty at Humboldt University-Berlin, where she is an annual guest professor. Her latest books are: “From This Broken Hill I Sing to You: God, Sex, and Politics in the Work of Leonard Cohen” (2021), “Commonwealth and Covenant: Economics, Politics, and Theologies of Relationality” (2016), and “The New Evangelicals: Expanding the Vision of the Common Good” (2011).

Samuel L. Perry (Ph.D., Chicago) is a sociologist of American religion, race, politics, sexuality, and families. He is the author or co-author of four books: Growing God’s Family (2017); Addicted to Lust (2019); Taking America Back For God (2020); and The Flag and The Cross (2022). He teaches at the University of Oklahoma.

Dave Davis is interim COO of Telos, a father, author, wanderer, and the founder of The Ashland Group, a strategic consulting firm designed to help churches, not for profits and corporations. Before joining Telos, Dave served at Parkview Community Church in Glen Ellyn, IL since 2009– first as Executive Pastor and then as Lead Pastor. Prior to that, Dave served as Executive Pastor at River Pointe Church in Sugar Land, TX for nearly 10 years

Many organizations are engaged in peacemaking in Israel-Palestine, both on the ground and here in North America.  Are they moving the needle?  Or is their work mostly about “feeling good,” as some claim? Gregory Khalil describes the Telos model and the difference it is making, in conversation with Jeffrey Wilkinson and Raja Khouri.

Five years since the passing of Leonard Cohen on November 7, 2016, many remember the singer-songwriter for his beautiful music and sharp insight into the human condition. But many do not know that in one of his final acts, he advocated for reconciliation and peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

On Wednesday, November 17th at – 8 pm EST, Telos will host a global event occasioned by the publication of From this Broken Hill I Sing To You: God, Sex and Politics in the Work of Leonard Cohen  by Marcia Pally. The event is an opportunity to celebrate and explore Cohen’s legacy, as well as the power of music and poetry to be catalysts for peace.

The event will feature a panel discussion with author Marcia Pally, renowned Christian Ethicist David Gushee and Jewish social activist/author Letty Cottin Pogrebin. Telos President Greg Khalil will serve as moderator, and the Good Shepherd Collective will be performing an original musical tribute to Leonard Cohen.

Each year, hundreds of Palestinian children are unjustly detained under Israeli military law. Defence for Children Palestine promotes and protects the human rights of Palestinian children, documenting the impact of child detention and advocating for greater protections for Palestinian youth. Together with American Friends Service Committee, DCIP runs the “No Way to Treat a Child” campaign, building a movement to end Israel’s military detention and prosecution of Palestinian children.

Join us in conversation with DCIP and AFSC as we discuss the scope of the practice of child detention, and the impact it has on Palestinian youth. We will also hear practical ways we can support the “No Way to Treat a Child” campaign, and discuss the role Americans can play in advocating for greater protection for Palestinian children.

Bio

Jennifer Bing has worked at American Friends Service Committee since 1989, serving in various capacities in its Israel-Palestine programs. She directs the AFSC Palestine Activism Program in Chicago and works with her colleagues in Palestine and Israel. Jennifer has organized hundreds of speaking tours, conferences, workshops, advocacy campaigns, and educational programs about the Middle East in her tenure with AFSC.

Shaina Low is a human rights activist and an advocacy officer with Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), where she works to secure a just and viable future for Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. She helps co-lead the No Way to Treat a Child campaign with the American Friends Service Committee.

Watch the short-film Obaida, screened during Part 1 of our Childhood Interrupted series

The United States and other nations across the world are experiencing a wave of antisemitic attacks. The need for all of us to stand in solidarity against such violence is great, but many of us don’t know where to begin: what exactly is antisemitism, and what can I do to combat it?

Join us for a conversation and training with Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson, the New York Rabbinic Organizer for T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization, on the basics of combating antisemitism. We will learn how to identify its different forms, explore our own implication both historically and today, and gain practical skills to help us actively and joyously combat it as peacemakers.

Speaker Bios:

Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2021, where she also earned an MA in Midrash and served for two years as the Program Coordinator of the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue. While in rabbinical school Margo served a number of communities and organizations, including as a Marshall T. Meyer Fellow at B’nai Jeshurun and as a T’ruah Israel Fellow in 2018.

Sarah Sturm attended Luther College where she studied Political Science and Religion. She graduated from Harvard Divinity School, focusing on religion, ethics and politics, with a particular interest in Israel/Palestine. A fervent believer in the power of citizen diplomacy, Sarah has spent time studying and working in both Jordan and Israel/Palestine. She is dedicated to conflict transformation through the disruption of assumptions and positive relationship building.

Looking for an entry into understanding one of the world’s thorniest conflicts? Join Telos for a comprehensive training on the basics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Telos President and Co-founder, Greg Khalil.

The 90-minute webinar will include an overview of the history of the conflict and an extended time for questions and answers. It will cover the range of seminal dates and events, pay special attention to the role of the United States through the course of this history, and emphasize a framework which prioritizes the dignity, security, and freedom of Israelis and Palestinians in equal measure.

The BAFTA-winning and Oscar nominated new documentary short, The Present, artfully depicts the difficult and humiliating experiences of Palestinians navigating Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, as Yusuf and his daughter travel to buy his wife an anniversary gift.

Stream the film on Netflix (~24 minutes), and join us for a live discussion with the film’s director, Farah Nabulsi!

Israel/Palestine continues to dominate news headlines with escalating reports of violence and destruction. But behind each number and each story is a human being with dreams, fears, and passions. Many are even fighting for a shared future in the land, and their stories deserve to be told.

Join us to hear from Palestinians and Israelis on the ground as they shed light on life under such difficult circumstances, and what it will take to build a future of mutual flourishing for both Palestinians and Israelis.

Join us for a live Q&A and recording of the Telos Check-In with the Telos team. We’ll discuss the escalating violence in Israel/Palestine, answer your questions about what’s happening and what it means for peace in the region, and hear from our friends on the ground.

Join us for a live discussion with David Osit, director of the award-winning documentary MAYOR. The film explores the real-life political saga of Musa Hadid, the Christian mayor of Ramallah, during his second term in office.

Surrounded on all sides by Israeli settlements and soldiers, most people in Ramallah will never have the chance to travel more than a few miles outside their home, which is why Mayor Musa Hadid is determined to make the city a beautiful and dignified place to live. His immediate goals: repave the sidewalks, attract more tourism, and plan the city’s Christmas celebrations. His ultimate mission: to end the occupation of Palestine. Rich with detailed observation and a surprising amount of humor, MAYOR offers a portrait of dignity amidst the madness and absurdity of endless occupation while posing a question: how do you run a city when you don’t have a country?

For the first time in 16 years, Palestinians were preparing to cast their votes for President and the Legislative Council. But within just weeks of the elections, President Mahmoud Abbas postponed the votes, citing Israeli officials failure to guarantee the voting rights of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Many observers, though, point to the splintering of Abbas’ Fatah party as the reason behind the delay. Join us as we discuss this development, Palestinian politics, and the future of Palestinian democracy. We are honored to be joined by distinguished Palestinian leader, legislator, activist and scholar, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi.

Dr. Hanan Ashrawi is a distinguished Palestinian leader, legislator, activist, and scholar who served as a member of the Leadership Committee and as an official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process, beginning with the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991. Making history as the first woman to hold a seat in the highest executive body in Palestine, she was elected as member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2009 and most recently in 2018. She resigned in 2020. In 1996, Dr. Ashrawi was appointed as the Palestinian Authority Minister of Higher Education and Research. She was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Jerusalem in 1996, and she was re-elected for the “Third Way” bloc ticket in 2006. As a civil society activist, she founded the Independent Commission for Human Rights (1994), MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (1998) and AMAN, the National Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (1999).  She serves on the advisory and international boards of several global, regional and local organizations, and she is the recipient of numerous awards from all over the world, , including the distinguished French decoration, “d’Officier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur” (2016), and several academic accolades, including eleven honorary doctorates from universities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Arab world.

Evangelical Christians have become in recent years one of the most salient groups in U.S. politics, holding strong positions on an array of contentious issues—support for Israel being one among them. But why do evangelicals care so deeply about a nation halfway across the world? What difference does it make for those on the ground? And despite the headlines, can they be a force for peace in Israel/Palestine and beyond? Join us for our mini-series investigating the complex and consequential relationship between Evangelicals, Israel/Palestine, and Peacemaking–April 2021.

As nearly 30% of the U.S. electorate, the evangelical Christian community in the U.S. has the opportunity for massive impact on issues of justice, reconciliation, and peace. But these communities have often neglected the call to be peacemakers, as laid out in Matthew 5:9. Can evangelical communities reclaim this call and be a force for peace?

Join us to hear an esteemed panel of Christian leaders who are working in evangelical communities to do just that. We’ll hear about the movements they lead that are healing conflict and changing the script on injustice, and discuss how local leaders can shepherd their communities into the work of peacemaking. Moderating will be Telos team member David Katibah.

Speakers

Christy Vines: President and CEO, Ideos

Jenny Yang: Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Policy, World Relief

Martin Brooks: President, Peace Catalyst International

Andrew Hanauer: President and CEO, One America Movement

Many American Christians care deeply about modern Israel. Some see events that transpire in the Holy Land as fulfillment of biblical prophecies and view support for Israel as a divine mandate. Others note the way these theologies ignore the humanity and desire for justice and freedom of Palestinians (including Palestinian Christians), while also undermining Jewish concerns for security and legitimacy by making the conflict harder to resolve. These Christians are asking, is there a way to heed Jesus’ call to be peacemakers and honor the need for all the people of the land—Jews, Christians and Muslims—to live with freedom, security and honored dignity?

Join as we hear from Christian leaders who refuse to divide Israelis and Palestinians in their prayers or in their work, and who are reimagining their community’s relationship to the Holy Land to pursue the flourishing of all people. Moderating will be Todd Deatherage, Executive Director and Cofounder of Telos.

Speakers:

Lisa Jernigan: Cofounder and President, Amplify Peace

Rob Dalrymple: Director, DetermineTruth ministries; Board Member, Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East

The American evangelical Christian community offers unquestioned and highly energized support for the modern state of Israel—a movement that’s come to be known as Christian Zionism. Today, Christian Zionist organizations donate millions of dollars in aid to Israeli organizations, lobby Congress on behalf of the Israeli government, and benefit from a massive pilgrimage tourism industry. But theologies and practices of Christian Zionism often leave essential questions of peacemaking, the indigenous Palestinian Christian population, and justice unresolved.

Join us as we hear from international experts on the development of the modern Christian Zionism movement, as well as its impact on those living in the land today from Israelis and Palestinians living on the ground. Moderated by Greg Khalil, President and co-founder of Telos.

Speakers

Rev. Dr. Robert O Smith: Director, Briarwood Leadership Center and author of More Desired than Our Owne Salvation: The Roots of Christian Zionism

Rev. Dr. Jack Sara: President, Bethlehem Bible College

Marina Klimchuk: Former team member, Telos

As Christians look forward to Easter at the beginning of next month, join Telos and Coracle for a conversation on Lent, the Principles and Practices of Peacemaking, and a more complete telling of our American story. We’ll be joined by David Bailey, Executive Director of Arrabon, Patty Prasada-Rao, Coordinator of the Repentance Project, and Rev. Erin Clifford, Repentance Project Board Member. Lent, the season in the Christian calendar leading up to Easter, is a time for reflection, fasting, and repentance. We’ll explore how this season provides unique opportunities for peacemaking as we reflect on our nation’s history of racial injustice.

Join Coracle and Telos for a conversation with Vesna Tift, a survivor of the Yugoslav wars. We’ll hear from Vesna about her experiences as a refugee on the front-lines of conflict, and about her work ministering to young adults and children also suffering from trauma through programs which promote inter-ethnic dialogue. In an interview moderated by Bill Haley, Executive Director of Coracle, Vesna will share lessons learned on peacemaking, faith, and reconciliation in a circumstance of profound loss and seemingly intractable conflict.

Join us for a live screening of documentary Aswat Acherim (Other Voices) and a live discussion with Director Ose Oyamendan and one of the film’s stars, Roni Keidar. Roni is a cherished Telos partner, who many of you have met on your Telos trips. With moderated discussion by Telos team member, Sarah Sturm, we’ll discuss the situation in Gaza/Sderot, Roni’s story, and the courage of peacemaking in the face of seemingly intractable violence.

Amidst a suffocating siege, rocket attacks, and a deep sense of enmity, conflict across the Gaza-Sderot (Israel) border seems intractable. But some are choosing a different way. They’re fighting across enemy lines for a change that will end the wars, stop the loss of lives and destruction of properties, and overcome the culture of fear. ASWAT ACHERIM follows the lives and stories of the peacemakers fighting for this change in a neighborhood torn apart by conflict.

*NOTE: Join us for a live screening Monday, March 22, 8 PM EDT, and a discussion the following day, Tuesday, March 23 1 PM EDT. If you’re unable to join for the live screening, you can rent the film for a fee here.

What do a young entrepreneur selling lingerie to a global market, the CEO of a Coca Cola franchise, and a founding partner of Palestine’s only startup investment fund all have in common? Other than being extraordinary business minds, they’re all Palestinians building or promoting business under an extreme, artificial condition: occupation. Unlike business leaders in other parts of the world, they can’t freely move or trade between their own villages and cities, much less with the outside world, nor do they control their own resources, from water to the electromagnetic sphere. But with freedom, they say, prosperity would surely come to an industrious, entrepreneurial people.

Learn how diverse Palestinian business leaders—from heads of international conglomerates to start-up entrepreneurs—navigate this unusual circumstance. And hear directly from these leaders on how they see those from the outside world engaging in support.

Speakers

Ambar Amleh is a Founding Partner at Palestine’s early-stage startup investment fund, Ibtikar, a fund that she championed and helped design, structure, and fundraise. Ibtikar fills a critical funding gap faced by Palestinian entrepreneurs between seed and VC, and is currently the only active VC in Palestine. Ambar is a member of the 23^rd class of Kauffman Fellows, and was named as one of the “50 Most Influential Women in the Arab World” by CEO Middle East Magazine and “20 Women VCs of MENA” by MENAbytes.

Join us for a live screening and training on the short film Purple, a new short documentary from political mediation organization and Telos partner, Resetting The Table, and Emmy award-winning Transient Pictures. Purple presents a rare political conversation that uplifts, provokes, and inspires while going toward the heat of passionate political differences in rural Wisconsin and Iowa—a swing region in two bordering swing states.

We’ll screen the short film after which Rabbi Melissa Weintraub — Co-Executive Director of Resetting the Table and one of the creators of Purple — will walk through a suggested post-screening process that participants can bring back to their own communities to spark dialogue and build connection across lines of difference. Come prepared to participate in skill-building and other exercises for productive conversations across political disagreement!

What can a nonviolent protest movement in the occupied West Bank teach us about peacemaking? And what can coalitions across lines of difference accomplish when they hold a shared commitment to nonviolence and human rights? Join us as we host a live screening and discussion of the documentary film, Budrus and hear from Executive Director of Just Vision, the organization behind the film, Suhad Babaa to answer these questions and more!

Budrus is an award-winning documentary film about Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites Palestinian political factions and invites Israeli supporters to join an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Wall. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women’s contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today.

Suhad Babaa is a media strategist, producer, human rights advocate and the Executive Director of Just Vision, an organization that researches, documents and disseminates the stories of Palestinians and Israelis working to end the occupation and build a future of freedom, dignity and equality for all.

With a new Presidency and Democrats in charge of both Houses of Congress, the coming months will likely see shifts in US foreign policy. The Biden Administration has already pledged to “reimagine” national security, mend relations with allies, and drive more multinational cooperation around shared threats. Yet given the increasing domestic turmoil at home, and the Democrats’ razor thin margins in Congress, shifts in foreign policy may not be as dramatic as expected. This is particularly true when it comes to Israel/Palestine, where this administration may have disagreed with many of the previous administration’s actions—such as the Jerusalem embassy move—but may do little to reverse them.

Join us for a conversation with Martin S. Indyk, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace and current distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, as we’ll dive deeply into some of these policy questions. We’ll listen to deeply understand these larger trends so that we as peacemakers might gain greater clarity on our role. Moderating will be Telos President and Co-founder Greg Khalil.

Martin S. Indyk is distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he was the John C. Whitehead Distinguished Fellow in International Diplomacy in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. From February 2015 to March 2018, he served as executive vice president of Brookings. Indyk served as the U.S. special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations from July 2013 to June 2014. Prior to his time as special envoy, he was vice president and director of the Foreign Policy program and a senior fellow and the founding director of the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings.

One of the key challenges in transforming long-running conflict is the creation of communities of ordinary citizens who understand that their own flourishing is tied to that of their neighbor even when their neighbor is also their adversary. These networks foster a culture of respect and mutuality that both generates pressure for and sustains the necessary systemic changes required to create security, dignity and freedom for all the people of the land, in equal measure.

Join us in conversation with Avi Meyerstein whose vision led to the creation of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) a coalition of over 125 organizations—and tens of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis—building people-to-people cooperation, coexistence, equality, shared society, mutual understanding, and peace among their communities. We’ll also be joined by ALLMEP U.S. Director Kevin Rachlin and Chief of Staff to Rep. Jeff Fortenberry Andy Braner who will talk about the recent historic passage of the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act, which will direct $250 million toward peacebuilding efforts in Israel/Palestine.

Moderating with be Telos alumna Teresa Casale, advocacy director for Mina’s List, an organization that advances women’s participation in political leadership and peace processes around the world. Teresa has over ten years of experience advocating to the U.S. government, the United Nations, the World Bank, and other global entities. With a specialty in the U.S. Congress, Teresa has helped create, support, and pass multiple pieces of legislation including the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act, the Women, Peace & Security Act, and the Afghan WIN (Women in Negotiations) Act.

Grassroots movements that create spaces for dialogue and action across lines of difference form an essential building block of sustainable peace. What are the unique advantages and challenges to these efforts, and how do you create ethical frameworks that pursue open opportunities for exchange while also calling participants into action toward mutual flourishing that maximizes dignity, security, and freedom for all?

Join us to hear directly from Hands of Peace, a grassroots organization empowering American, Palestinian, and Israeli youth to become agents of change through immersive, dialogue-based summer programs in the U.S. We’ll hear firsthand how the program has shaped the lives and experiences of two alumni, Stav Arnon and Elias Hawila, and about the larger work of Hands of Peace from executive director Scott Rasmussen. Moderating will be Telos team member David Katibah.

In this Part 2, nonviolence expert and practitioner from Bethlehem, Sami Awad, along with musician, author and creator of The Beatitudes Project Stu G from Nashville, Tennessee will join us for a discussion centered on Jesus’ claim, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

We’ll cover the role of nonviolence in personal and societal transformation and discuss Peacemaking Principle #5: Nonviolence | “Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.” —Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., with Telos co-founder and executive director Todd Deatherage moderating.

Join us in Centering the Leadership of the Marginalized (Practice 4) as we invite Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, Palestinian theologian, author, and pastor of the Christmas Church in Bethlehem to share about his work in Bethlehem. Also joining us will be Rev. Bill Haley, founder of Coracle and co-founder of The Repentance Project.

We’ll discuss Rev. Isaac’s new book “The Other Side of the Wall,” which challenges theologies from the West that have been weaponized against him and others like him in the Holy Land. Telos co-founder and President Greg Khalil will moderate the conversation.

1. What’s at Stake: Israel/Palestine and the US Election